Cocoa almond banana berry smoothies are a fun, delicious, and healthy breakfast. Made with dates, berries, and almond butter. Vegan and gluten-free!

I love love love Valentine’s day, but not in the fancy-dinner-prix-fixe dinner sort of way. I love it for of all of the cute things that remind me of being a little kid… tiny paper cards, homemade cupcakes with pink frosting, heart shaped candies… so in the spirit of being crafty, I made these 3-layer smoothies!

I always see the layered smoothies on Instagram and think “who the heck has time to make three separate smoothies?” – but here I am doing it. It actually was pretty simple and while I won’t be doing this every single morning, I think it’s fun as a special occasion smoothie.

The bottom layer is made with almond butter, cocoa powder, and dates. The middle layer is made with banana, vanilla and (more) dates. The top layer is a mix of frozen strawberries and raspberries. Each one is blended with generous amounts of Almond Breeze almondmilk, which is a staple ingredient in my fridge.

The only fussy part here is that you have to freeze each layer – just enough for it to set a little bit – before adding the next.

These are not only so cute, but they’re a yummy three-flavors-in-one treat as well.

I love these cute, yummy 3-layer smoothies as a Valentine's treat or healthy breakfast any day. Full of berries, dates, and almond butter, they're healthy and filling.

Author: Jeanine Donofrio

Recipe type: Smoothie

Serves: 3-4

Ingredients

Bottom Layer: Chocolate Almond Butter

½ cup Almond Breeze almondmilk Vanilla

¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons almond butter

½ frozen banana

1 tablespoon cocoa powder

2 soft Medjool dates, pitted

handful of ice

Middle Layer: Banana Vanilla

1 cup Almond Breeze almondmilk Vanilla

1½ frozen bananas

2 soft Medjool dates, pitted

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract or 1 scraped vanilla bean

handful of ice

Top Layer: Red Berry

1 cup frozen strawberries

1 cup frozen raspberries

1 cup Almond Breeze almondmilk Vanilla

Chocolate chips for garnish, optional

Instructions

Make the bottom layer: Combine the almond milk, almond butter, banana, cocoa powder, and dates in a blender. Blend until smooth and the dates are fully pureed. Add the ice and pulse. Pour into 3 glasses (or 4 smaller glasses) and freeze for 30 minutes.

Make the middle layer: Combine the almond milk, bananas, dates, and vanilla in a blender and blend until smooth. Add the ice and pulse. Layer this onto the smoothies and freeze for another 30 minutes.

Make the top layer: Combine the strawberries, raspberries, and almond milk in a blender and blend until smooth. This layer will be very thick. Remove the glasses from the freezer and spoon the last layer onto the smoothies. Sprinkle with chocolate chips, if desired.

The bottom two layers, since they are not completely frozen, should thaw to a drinkable (spoonable) consistency in 5 to 10 minutes. Serve and enjoy.

I don’t make them often either, but I do love the experience of eating a layered smoothie, especially when there are different textures. So fun and novel. Love the date, cacao, almond butter layer in this one!

very clever set of layers, haven’t seen a multi-layered smoothie except for the unintentional separating (and unappetizing) of mine if I leave them overnight in the refrigerator, I like this recipe much better even after Valentine’s Day, thank you!